• Author: Young Nam Cho
• Publication Date: March / 2025
• Publisher: Book21

About the Book

“In the ‘Communist Party’s State,’ What Roles Do the Government and Legislature Play?”

Final Volume of the China’s Governance System Series

This book, China’s Governance System 3: The State Constitutional System, is the final volume in a trilogy by Professor Young Nam Cho of Seoul National University’s Graduate School of International Studies, who has studied Chinese politics for over 30 years. It follows China’s Governance System 1: The Communist Party Leadership System and China’s Governance System 2: The Communist Party’s Control Mechanisms (published in September 2022). In this concluding volume, Professor Cho analyzes China’s state constitutional system, with a particular focus on the roles of the “government” and the “legislature” within the one-party rule of the Communist Party.

In Chinese society, the Communist Party leads. As a result, the structure and function of the government and legislature differ significantly from those in capitalist states. During the Cultural Revolution, the government and legislature failed to function properly, and revolutionary committees took over their roles. However, with the launch of the Reform and Opening-up policies in 1978—marked by privatization, marketization, and international openness—the role of the government expanded significantly. At the same time, as the need for a legal framework grew, the legislature’s role gradually increased as well.

To better understand China’s governance system, this book does not examine the government and legislature in isolation, but instead explores how they function in interaction with the Communist Party. It provides in-depth analysis of government activities through case studies such as healthcare reform and the COVID-19 response, while the legislature is examined through its lawmaking, supervisory, and representative functions. The book also includes around 40 photographs, offering vivid visual insights into contemporary China.

About the Author

Young Nam Cho

Since 2002, he has been a professor at the Graduate School of International Studies at Seoul National University. He earned his undergraduate degree in Asian History at Seoul National University and went on to receive both his master’s and doctoral degrees in Political Science from the same institution. He has held visiting scholar positions at several prominent institutions: the Center for the Study of Contemporary China at Peking University (1997–1998), the Department of Political Science at Nankai University (2001–2002), and the Harvard-Yenching Institute (2006–2007). His research achievements include a total of 18 sole-authored academic books and numerous scholarly articles. Notable among his works are the China’s Governance System trilogy (Volumes 1–3, 2022–2025), China’s Crisis Response Policy (2024), Elite Politics in China (2019), and the Deng Xiaoping’s China trilogy—Reform and Opening, Factions and Struggles, and The Tiananmen Incident (2016). He also authored Local People’s Congresses in China (2009). For his contributions to the field, he has received several honors, including the SNU Award for Research Excellence (2007), the NEAR Foundation Academic Award (2008), and the Korean Political Science Association’s Book Award (2020).